Richard Dawkins on Sunday accused Mitt Romney of being a "massively
gullible fool" as he launched into a furious tirade against the
Republican's Mormon faith.

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Richard Dawkins focused his criticism on the Church's belief that its founder, Joseph Smith, was visited by an angel in 1820s New York, who guided him to a set of golden plates buried in a hillPhoto: REX FEATURES

Britain's most prominent atheist attacked the core tenets of Mr Romney's religion, saying that the Church of Latter Day Saints' founding prophet was "a fraud" and that the presidential contender was "too stupid to see it".

"No matter how much you agree with Romney's economic policy, can you really vote for such a massively gullible fool?" asked Prof Dawkins during an outburst on Twitter that lasted several hours.

The Oxford academic focused his criticism on the Church's belief that its founder, Joseph Smith, was visited by an angel in 1820s New York, who guided him to a set of golden plates buried in a hill.

Smith claimed to have translated runes engraved on the plates, and compiled them into the Book of Mormon. The text describes how Jesus Christ appeared in the United States after the Crucifixion and how Adam and Eve went to the site of present-day Missouri after being expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Prof Dawkins said Smith was a "19th century charlatan" and that the Book's text appeared to be written in a falsified ancient tone, unlike the Bible and Koran which were "written in the language of their time".

"Could you really vote for a man who thinks the Garden of Eden was in Missouri?" he said.

He also cited passages referring to the white race as "the chosen seed" and ordering death for any white person who took part in interracial sex. The Church disavowed the teaching in the 1970s and Mr Romney has described how he wept with joy when he learned the doctrine had been updated.

Prof Dawkins outburst appears to have been prompted by an appearance on Swedish television, where he was interviewed alongside Brandon Flowers, the frontman of the band The Killers and a prominent Mormon.

Mr Romney's campaign declined to comment on Prof Dawkins's remarks.

The academic last week accused the Democrats of "disgraceful vote-rigging" after the White House forced the party to re-insert religious references into its policy platform.

Earlier this year he speculated that Barack Obama was "probably an atheist" despite the President's claims to be a born-again Christian.